Hi Folks,
Well with the recently concluded Malaysian PSQ which a whole bunch of us (8 to be exact) went up to participate, here’s “There And Back Again – A Singaporean Tale” or Malaysian PSQ Tourney Report. It’s rather long I will put this up as well on my web site and will add some pictures once I get a chance to do that. Enjoy the read. Apologies if I got any of your names misspelled will have to wait till David comes up with his report before I adjust the names.
Well it all began about a month ago when I asked around who would be interested to play in the Malaysian PSQ to be held on 19th Jan 2003 at Comics Corner Tournament Center in PJ. After a rather luke warm response from the LotR players it was left up to the MK group to get a representation up to KL. I was going up as a family holiday so I went on my own while the other 7 players drove up in 2 cars. The final list of players were :
Aldrin
Dave
Kin Mun
En Lai
Don
Jason
And a late addition the Singapore Cave Troll – Mark (well
that’s what
I left pretty early on Saturday, took a coach up to KL,
checked in at the Ritz Carlton where the freaking bathroom is as big as a HDB
master bedroom. The room number they gave me was 911 (you will see the
significance of that later) Went shopping in the afternoon, and not wanting to make the mistake of being too
tired on game day I decided to have an early night, so after a night swim,
Jacuzzi and sauna, I decided to get down to writing my decklist. I’ve been
toying with 3 decks which were my Healing Hobbit Heroes – the one I used to win
Chase the Can which has a 7-1 tourney record. An Uruk Tracker deck – saw it in
action but again not my kind of shadow. And a deck I saw in decktech centering
around Ulaire Nertea and Moria Swarm. I’ve play tested the Moria and Hobbit
decks before I left and was quite happy with their performance locally, Since I
could not decide what to play I decided to make 2 decklist and decide only
tomorrow. Made some final last minute adjustments to take care of Uruks,
Nazguls & Moria which I figured would be the more common shadow decks in
Game Day – got up early breakfast was served in the room, took
my stuff, went down and got a cab to Atria. I think the cab driver thinks he is
Michael Schmacher or something gets me to Atria in 20 minutes flat, speeding
all the way. (unless 140 kmh on the highways is not speeding) Hang around the
Game 1 (1668) vs Jason Tan (1603 - Sauron Burden)
This was a highly irritating game as I had to watch his conditions and my burdens and of course the Tower Assassins on my Allies. We bid 2 each, I won the dice roll and told him to start. He gives me a whole load of twilight, enough for the cave Troll to make it’s first appearance of the day at Site 2. On my turn his conditions start to come down on my fellowship. Luckily I could get my Secret Sentinels out early so damage was minimal, he plays few minions as there is not enough twilight for him and most of the minions die to archery fire. At site 4 again enough twilight for Cave Troll to make his second appearance of the day. Site 6 he was down to 4 companions, again enough twilight for Cave Troll and 4 other minions. He confidently assigns Scavenger and Scimitar to Frodo and slowly starts to assign the other minions, I’m thinking PATHS. He leaves me the runner to assign, I risk it and assign it to Frodo, power 15 to his power 5 Frodo, nothing in his hand Frodo overwhelm even with Bounder. Full Win.
FW (+3)
Props : Quick swarm at site 6 and Cave Troll hitting sites 2, 4 & 6.
Slops : Having to play with one of your own in the first game.
End of Game 1 – Me, Kin Mun & Dave (full win - FW), Sharon & Mark had timed wins (TW), En Lai timed lost (TL) Jason & Don, full lost (FL). Great start 5 wins, 3 lost.
Soon after the pairings started for the next round. Jason
had to play Don, poor Jason 2 games playing your own guys. En Lai vs Chin
Siong, Sharon vs Chris, Mark vs Manveen, Kin Mun vs Barry, Dave vs Gary and I
got paired with Leonard Chee the Malaysia Territorial and Continental Champion
!!! this is going to be a tough match. So there was littel old me a 1668 pointer
against the best in
Game 2 vs Leonard Chee (1933 – Running Uruks)
He bids 3 & I bid 2, he won and went first. He deploys
some stuff and moved to site 2, I play my first Moria card and he shouts
“MORIA” ok so now the entire room knows I play with moria. No big deal. Not
sure why people look down and don’t play moria. Nothing much happens he doubles
to site 3, knowing Leonard, he likes to start first and has the tendency to run
while slows you with the big Uruks. I play some stuff, Foul Creation his
Saruman away and move. My next turn I Foul Creation again and took our a big
Uruk, He did not have many minions as he had 4 Gandalf culture cards in his
hand, 3 of those were Albert, Sleep & Glamdring all important stuff against
Moria, but no Gandalf. I managed to Foul another Saruman away from him on my
next turn which causes a lot of problems for his Shadow side. He is at Site 6
and he had 5 companions and
FW (+6)
Props : I BEAT LEONARD !!! woo hoo, he’ll want his revenge now and of course this was a text book example of how the deck is suppose to work, everything went by the book. I think maybe I built it with Leonard in mine :-)
Slops : Nothing much really except maybe the crowd at the ending which started to get a little excited and for all those who scouted my deck :-)
End of Game 2 – Me, Don & Kin Mun (FW), En Lai, Sharon, Jason, Mark & Dave (FL) not a good second round for us, only 3 wins.
The third game begins and we would break for lunch after
this. By now some of the guys were saying that they were having stomach aches,
must have been the Roti Prata this morning. Some of the guys were not feeling
too well. I get paired with Jason Chew, my second Jason player today.
Game 3 vs Jason Chui – (1602 - Nazgul Riders)
Jason was playing a Nazgul deck without Breaths and Tips. Standard Nazgul with Steeds & Weapons. This happen to be a very very slow game, he bids 3 and goes first, pippin removes a burden. I just played what I could on my turn and at site 2, 2 Companions died, by site 4 another 2 of my companions were in the dead pile, Those Steeds were taking it’s toll. Cave Troll did some damage as well, he had 3 in dead pile by the time we were at site 6. he moved to site 7 with 4 companions, I did not have enough minions to swarm him but I did bring down the Cave Troll which killed off another 2 more companions, my turn I move to site 7, time was called my fellowship survived intact and we both had 2 burdens but I had 4 dead companions to his 5 dead companions, I got a timed win.
TW (+8)
End of Game 3 – Dave, En Lai and Mark (FW), me (TW), Jason, Kin Mun & Sharon (FL). 4 win 4 lost for this round. So we break for lunch and had KFC, heard from the guys that their tummies were still a little upset plus some of them only slept at 4am last night, man that is absolutely not good. Got back by 2 pm for the next 3 rounds.
I was feeling still ok after the morning session and seems like I was the only Singaporean who was unbeaten yet. So next game I get paired with Gary, Dave played Chris, Sharon vs Imran, Mark vs Barry, Kin Mun vs Benjamin, Jason vs Boon Kiat, Don and En Lai played some guys who they forgot. So for the first time no one got paired with each other.
Game 4 vs Garry Teo (1757 – Uruk Site Control)
I bid 2 and he bids 3 and tells me to go first. Ok so for the first time today I go first. Normal stuff the Foul Creation took care of some of his Uruks, Haldir was there to liberate sites, Sentinels took care of the conditions. At site 4 I was reconciling my hand when I accidentally counted 1 extra card which I immediately told him and I put the card back on my draw pile, I did not get to see the card. On my next turn at site 5 after he had reconciled his hand it was my fellowship turn, I had 7 companions out played some stuff and I Sting his hand, I looked at his minions and counted his cards, he had 10 cards !! seems like he over drew. Since we were pass the reconcile phase, it was my fellowship phase I call the Judge David over, he hears the case of the accidental draw and says as a penalty I get to discard 2 of Garry’s cards. Ok I said so I said to David so do I get him to shuffle and I randomly pick 2 and then I can still see his hand right as I was using my Sting. My only concern at this point was to see his hand. David says NO, I get to pick any 2 I want to discard. Since that was ruled by the Judge, I discarded his Saruman and Enquea. It was really bad luck for him. At site 6 I play Sam and Thor’s map to get my site 7 out I double move from 6 to 8, simply because I knew I could not get the swarm to work again and also I knew time was running out he could try to make it to 8 and even if time was called I would get a timed win as I had no Burdens to his 3 burdens., he did take out a number of my companions, I was down to 3 Companions left. He moves to 7 and David says we have 1 and half minutes left. I did so want to play for time, he did asked me to hurry, after thinking for a bit, I decided ok I’ll let him have another shot at me. I reconcile, I had Gimli in hand, he stops and reconciles, I move to 9, he drops his hand, no minions, and I get the Full Win.
FW (+11)
Props : A very very lucky win.
Slops : His mistake in not spotting that he had 10 cards in hand.
End of Game 4 – Me, Don, Sharon, Mark (FW), Kin Mun (TL), Jason, En Lai, Dave (FL), another 4/4 round for us and I was still undefeated.
Well let’s see how my luck holds out in the next game. I get to play Chris next, Don vs William, Jason vs Imsan, Dave vs Chin Siong, En Lai vs Barry, Mark vs Benjamin, Sharon had to play Kin Mun.
Game 5 vs Christopher Chew (1822 - Uruk Bomb)
He wins the bid and decides to go first, tells me he is a little afraid of my deck, must have been my large companions in Leonards game, that’s why he decides to go first. But this game was over in 3 rounds surprisingly. (round 1) His first turn he doubles to 3. (round 2) My turn I Foul Creation his hand sees that he has 1 Nargul & 3 Uruks, I chuck his biggest Uruk away, he also had a Defend it and Hope. I move to 2, he just drops the Nazgul, nothing else, even though he had enough to drop another minion, immediately I knew this was the match up I hated most, problem with this was Uruk Bombs tend to setup at site 5, Moria Swarms setup at site 7! He could take me before I could take him. I stop. (round 3) he plays some stuff moves to site 4 with 4 companions. I drop down a Runner with Scimitar, Guard Commander with Scimitar, Scavenger with Scimitar and a Moria Scout. There was still 7 twilight in the pool. I tell him “7 twilight left, end shadow, your maneuver action”. He passes, ok I pass, not sure why he did not play Defend it. Archery he does not do any targeting, I take 1 normal. Assignment again I tell him that there are 7 twilight in the pool. He places the Scout on Frodo & Guard Commander to Aragon. The other 2 minions to the other 2 companions. He resolves Aragon strength 10 to my 9, I remove 3 to make Guard commander 11, Aragon takes 1 wound. (4 twilight in pool) Frodo strength 4, Scout 6 I remove 3 and make scout 8, He shakes my hand and tells me he forgot about the Commander’s ability. Full Win.
FW (+14)
Props : An even more lucky win
Slops : Not testing this deck against a Uruk Bomb in tourney play.
End Game 5 – me, Jason, Dave, En Lai (FW), Kin Mun (TW), Sharon (TL), Mark & Don (FL), a very good round again 5 wins 3 lost. So I still remain undefeated and so far the only 1 who is undefeated but after 3 good well played wins in the morning I had to rely on 2 lucky wins in the afternoon.
As we start the final round again no one had to play each other for this final round. I was paired with Eu Ming who was 1 point behind me (13) with 4 wins and 1 lost. This game would decide who takes top spot. As the prize presentation was after this and lots of trading going on did not keep track of who the others played, all I know they did not play each other.
Game 6 vs Eu Ming (1759 - Uruk Trackers)
Eu Ming was playing a Tracker deck. He wins the bid and goes first, he gets sting out early stings my hand and sees very few minions, he doubles to 3. I guess my luck ran out I just could not get any minions out. His Uruks decimated my Fellowship and all my Moria die at Archery. No Cave Troll to be seen, swarm did not work at site 7 as I had no minions in hand. His Sentinels takes out my Conditions effectively. Soon I was at site 6 and he was moving to site 9. He had 5 companions with a fully healed Legolas & Aragon with Bow and Faramir with Bow. I managed to get out 6 minions, very fitting that the Cave Troll came out now as it came out at the first site in my first game and the now the last site in my last game. Sentinels takes out my last 2 armouries, Archery decimates my minions down to 2 and he wins. Full Lost.
Full Lost (+15)
End of Game 6 – Dave, Kin Mun, Sharon, Mark (FW), Jason (TL), me, Don, En Lai (FL) another 4/4 result.
Not a bad day, of the 48 games we played we had 5 games where we were playing each other, of the 48 games, 21 FW, 4 TW, 4 TL, 19 FL. So overall, Eu Ming took top spot. I took 2nd, Dave was 4th, Mark, 7th and Kin Mun 8th, the rest of you guys they are still working out the scores and I will let you know if I get the results. I got my points, 1 Premier Series Folder and Pin plus 2 packs of cards plus a T-Shirt. I guess the big surprise was no one was playing Moria in Malaysia? When I figured Uruks, Moria & Nazgul were the Shadow Minions to look out for in that order.
So after I got my prize Uncle was nice enough to get me a cab again another F1 race car driver, now this guys really thinks he is one, his car seat is low, zig-zags out of traffice like he owns the road gets me back to the hotel in under 20 minutes, I know Malaysia has a F1 track in KL, during the off season do all the cab drivers go there to train or what? So back to the Hotel in one piece. Is this the end of the story no not yet. Next day after some last minute shopping (Jason I bought some Game boy games) I catch the coach back to Singapore. It was raining and the Coach was stuck in a traffic jam, waited for more than an hour. Finally it came got on and headed for Singapore. At Singapore Customs for some reason I was stopped, they asked what is in my bag the one where I put my folders and the winner’s binder. I open it the guy takes out the binder starts asking what is it I think the Elvish words on the front could easily pass off as Arabic, he seems really interested in the binder, looked it over I guess he was trying to find if there was any documents in there or something, told him about LotR CCG, and yes he said he heard about it seen lots of kids playing it, and lets me off, maybe next time we will have a Customs officer playing LotR :-)
Props :
- David for running the event.
- Eu Ming on his win
- Uncle at the store for getting my cab ride back
- The FUN I had playing all you guys.
- Beating the big guy Leonard (must get cross out ‘L’ patch :-)
Slops
- The Guys/Gal getting tummy aches during the matches, must have been the Roti Prata.
- Game 4 and my opponents mistake with 10 card hand size.
- Not getting anyone to trade/sell me water rings
- Malaysian Taxi Drivers
- My delayed trip back to Singapore
- Getting stopped at Customs
ok see ya
Aldrin